K Siddaramaiah, who took over as the 22nd chief minister of Karnataka on Monday, is all set to face a stormy legislative assembly session. Among the several decisions that he took after being sworn-in was to reverse the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government's decision banning cow slaughter in the state.
Former BJP union Minister Taradevi Siddartha, former Kannada Paksha MP S B Sidnal and former Janata Parivar Karnataka Assembly Legislator Jayaprakash Hegde on Tuesday joined the Congress in the presence of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Mallikarjun Kharge. Speaking to newspersons, Kharge said Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has approved their induction into the party.
Congress and RJD are single largest parties in Goa and Bihar respectively.
Terming the registration of FIR against Home Minister R R Patil by Karnataka police as "wrong", Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday said he would speak to his counterpart from the neighbouring state and request him to drop the charges.
Success in Karnataka's assembly polls will hinge on two factors: Drop a large number of incumbent MLAs and project Modi and not the state leaders, least of all Bommai.
If the Congress is contesting fewer seats than ever before, the BJP is set to contest its highest-ever number of Lok Sabha seats.
Both the eight-time MLA Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah have made no secret of their ambition to become CM and had been involved in a game of political one upmanship in the past.
10 reasons why the Congress-JD-S government is on the brink of collapse.
Multiple challenges, particularly with regard to cabinet formation, stare at Siddaramaiah as he takes over as the new chief minister of Karnataka, nudging out party colleague and state Congress president D K Shivakumar -- who will now be his deputy.
Facing fresh trouble after the Supreme Court ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into his alleged role in illegal mining, former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Saturday held consultations with his loyalists on his political future.
Asserting he will abide by rules, the speaker said he will take a "just decision which may be of convenience to some and inconvenience to some."
Political temperatures were soaring in several states that could see close contests, with parties trying to keep their flock together and trading accusations of poaching of MLAs.
The EC had on Saturday issued a notice to the Karnataka Congress over its "corruption rate card" advertisements published in newspapers in the run-up to the May 10 state polls and sought "empirical evidence" to prove its allegations by Sunday evening.
To the Karnataka strongman's shock, his staunchest followers did a U-turn and decided to stay back in the BJP, says Vicky Nanjappa
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in poll-bound Karnataka on Friday sought to woo farmers, women and younger generation with a slew of welfare measures in its last budget in the current term, also earmarking Rs 1000 crore towards development and renovation of various temples and maths in the state.
Housing Minister M T B Nagaraj and K Sudhakar handed over their resignations at the Speaker's chamber in Vidhana Soudha.
K Siddaramaiah, who led the Congress to victory in the May 5 assembly elections in Karnataka, took oath as the state's 22nd chief minister on Monday.
Sidda launches free bus travel scheme for women
The party has not applied the "one-family, one-ticket" formula for the Karnataka polls which it followed in the Punjab polls held last year.
In a startling repeat of the manoeuvres made by Bharatiya Janata Party members of Legislative Assembly in Karnataka to unseat the government of former Chief Minister Sadanand Gowda, over 40 Maharashtra Congress legislators raised a similar demand against Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday, saying he needed to go if he couldn't alter his way of functioning.
The Andhra Pradesh Anti-Corruption Bureau on Monday filed a chargesheet against suspended judge T Pattabhirama Rao and seven others, including two Karnataka members of legislative Assembly, in the cash-for-bail case involving former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy.
The Karnataka government has suspended 40 officials and staff and issued show-cause notices to 257 who have been named by Lokayukta reports in illegal mining in Karnataka, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said.
In true Karnataka political style, which cuts across parties and loyalties, any reinstatement of Yeddiyurappa, even with adequate legislative majority, could trigger rebellion from within, which could embarrass the Modi-Shah duo than any other development elsewhere in the country, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
There were reports of such incidents at temples in various places including Bengaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi, Mysuru, Chikkamagaluru, Yadgir, Mandya and Kolar among other places.
Addressing the centenary year celebrations of the All India Presiding Officers Conference organised in the Himachal Pradesh State Assembly, Harivansh suggested various reforms to make law making legislatures more dynamic.
Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has called for a meeting of his loyalists to review their decision on whether to topple the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Karnataka. The meeting -- slated to be held at his Dollar's Colony residence in Bangalore at 10.30 am on Saturday -- will have 30 Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Legislative Assembly and seven ministers attending it.
Siddaramaiah will be the next CM of Karnataka and D K Shivakumar his deputy, Congress sources in Delhi said on Thursday after the party arrived at a consensus on government formation in the state following hectic parleys.
Extensive arrangements have been made due to the COVID-19 pandemic including personal protective equipment kits for election staff, more polling booths, thermal screening, sanitisers, masks and gloves for voters and markings to ensure social distancing, officials said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Karnataka government's move to send nearly 100 Members of Legislative Assembly abroad on a 'study tour' has come under flak from B S Yeddyurappa, who demanded that the programme be cancelled in view of severe drought conditions prevailing in large parts of the state.
Loyalists of former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa have made another attempt to resign from the Bharatiya Janata Party unit in the state. This time, they have emailed their resignations to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Fourteen BJP legislators had made an attempt to put in their papers on Wednesday but failed to do so as the Speaker was not available.
Somshekhar Reddy, Karnataka Member of Legislative Assembly from Bellary, has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the cash-for-bail scam. According to the other arrested accused in the case, it was Reddy who passed on the money which was used to bribe those judges who eventually granted bail to his brother Janardhan Reddy, in a case connected to illegal mining.
The party leadership blamed two of its MLAs, Srinivas Gowda from Kolar and S R Srinivas from Gubbi, for betraying the party.
The MLA appeared before the court of additional sessions judge RP Mogera and filed a 30-page objection to the former Congress president's plea for staying his conviction, his lawyer Ketan Reshamwala said.
Even as Karnataka continues to release water to Tamil Nadu as per the directive of the Cauvery River Waters Authority, all the members of Legislative Assembly from the Janata Dal-Secular have tendered their resignations against this move by the Karnataka government.
Yediyurappa, however, evaded queries on whether he would be able to complete his tenure, as there has been speculation about a possible leadership change in the state following murmurs of discontent in the party.
They are also likely to demand a second round of cabinet expansion soon.
Among the three Deputy Chief Ministers are Govind Karjol, who has also been given the charge of PWD and Social welfare; Ashwath Narayan the portfolio of Higher Education, IT & BT, Science and Technology; and Laxman Savadi with Transport department.
Vicky Nanjappa speaks to Bharatiya Janata party Member of Legislative Assembly Krishna Palemar, who was one of the ministers in the Sadananda Gowda cabinet who resigned after television clips showed him allegedly watching a porn video in the Karnataka assembly.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.
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